1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an ink-jet printing apparatus and an ink-jet printing method. More particularly, the invention relates to an ink-jet printing apparatus and an ink-jet printing method performing printing using inks adapted to printing media to be used for printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a printing method to obtain high definition and high preciseness image, a printing method employing an ink-jet printing apparatus performing ink ejection using a thermal energy generated by an electrothermal transducer, has been known. The ink-jet printing apparatus of this system has less constraint in selection of the printing media actually used in the light of principle of printing. In the recent years, kinds of printing media to be used in such printing apparatus is becoming wide variety. By the ink-jet printing apparatus, in addition to a coated paper which has been used conventionally, printing can be performed on plain paper, what we call, transparent sheet, glossy paper, a back-print film, leather, wood or the like, for example. In the alternative, textile printing can also be performed on a cloth fabricated from cotton, rayon (artificial silk), hemp, silk, nylon, polyester or the like.
On the other hand, associating with increasing the variety of printing media to be used, in viewpoint of use of inks adapted to property of the printing media, such as material or the like, kinds of inks to be used in the ink-jet printing apparatus is increasing. As such inks, in addition to a water soluble dye ink which has been used normally, a water-soluble dye ink in concentrated form, an ink using a water insoluble dye, a pigment ink, a non-aqueous ink and the like are used, for example.
These large number of kinds of inks are used depending upon kind of the printing media, color or density required in printing images, image fastness and so on, namely depending upon specification required for printing apparatus. Therefore, the large number of kinds of inks are used by simultaneously using several kinds of inks in the same printing apparatus, or by exchanging inks within a printing head or an ink path every time of varying kinds of the printing media.
However, among large number of kinds of inks just described, when a water-soluble dye ink in concentrated form, an ink using water insoluble dye, a pigment ink and the like are used, for example, it is relatively difficult to stably eject the ink from the printing head to possibly cause plugging or ejection failure, and damaging of the head caused by plugging or ejection failure.
Particularly, in the ink-jet printing apparatus using a thermal energy by the electrothermal transducer, damage, to which the printing head is subjected by the heat, degree of bubbling, variation of viscosity of the ink, initial ejection characteristics and so on have varied depending upon the kind of the ink to be used. Therefore, difficulty is encountered to perform optimal ejection for all kinds of the inks under the same head driving condition.